AppleCEOTimCookgives'generous'donationtoLGBTequalitycampaign

Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a “generous” personal donation to Project One America, an initiative run by the civil rights organization Human Rights Campaign to promote LGBT equality in the Southern states of Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

Cook’s contribution, whose amount is undisclosed, is announced by HRC president Chad Griffin in an official blog post (via 9to5Mac):

When Tim first learned about HRC’s Project One America – our bold, comprehensive campaign to dramatically advance equality for LGBT Americans in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi – he said, “I’m in.” Thanks to his generous personal financial investment in the program, together we will move the needle forward at the local and state level, tearing down misperceptions and providing concrete protections for those who need it most.

In his post, Griffin praises Cook’s decision to publicly come out as gay in October, thereby becoming the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company and sending “ripples across the globe with one clear and powerful message: It’s OK to be gay.”

A native of Alabama, Cook came out just days after being inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor at the Alabama State Capitol. In his acceptance speech, he called attention to the state’s slow progress in promoting equality for the LGBT community, noting that, “Under the law, citizens of Alabama can still be fired based on their sexual orientation.”

A couple of weeks ago, Democratic state Representative Patricia Todd, the first openly gay elected official in Alabama, announced that her anti-LGBT discrimination bill would be named after Cook.

And last week, Cook had a “positive and productive” meeting with Rev. Jesse Jackson, the renowned civil rights leader, regarding the persistent racial and gender gap in the tech industry.

Partly for his “eloquent defense of equality,” Cook has been named by The Financial Times as its Person of the Year.